mardi 27 juillet 2010

Dread Flimstone - From The Ghetto (1991)

Here's another find from my recent eBay spendarama, and another CD that wasn't on Discogs (now rectified, here). I first heard about these mixes from The Soul Vendor blog, which had lots of interesting stuff on it before dying off last October with no explanation. Perhaps they've moved on to somewhere I don't know about.

Anyway, I came acros the CD promo on eBay for a reasonable price and snapped it up. Not only are there are few very reasonable Freddy Bastone remixes on there, but also two exceptional early Danny Tenaglia mixes. It would seem that they are very hard to find on CD, so I was really pleased! Have a listen...


I have a natural wariness for white boys doing reggae, even if it's reggae mixed as house (and that goes for white girls too), but I have to say that this song is insanely catchy, and I'm really pleased to be able to share it with everyone.

Of course, it isn't available as a legal download anywhere, so you can grab your copy of the promo CD in 256kbps AAC (66MB) here. Enjoy!

vendredi 23 juillet 2010

The Pointer Sister - Insanity (1990)

I've had a bit of eBay spree recently. It means taking time to trawl through things (many of which are deeply disinteresting), but there are still some finds to be had, like this one: a promo CD with Steve 'Silk' Hurley mixes of a song by The Pointer Sisters.

I had a hard time believing it was real to start off with. It wasn't on Discogs. It hadn't been posted anywhere on the web that I could find. A genuine find perhaps? You'd have thought that by now every single CD ever made would be available somewhere on the web, but that's not true. There are still quite a few things that are genuinely difficult to get your hands on.

As a diligent music lover (and sharer, for the better good of mankind), I decided to create an entry for it on Discogs, which turned out to be not as difficult as I had thought, even if you do need to concentrate. You can consult it here.

So what's the story behind this release? Well, in 1990 The Pointer Sisters' massive 80s hits were behind them, and they had become more or less old news. Signed to Motown, "Right Rhythm" the album from which Insanity is taken seems to have been their last. Getting Steve 'Silk' Hurley to remix the track was undoubtedly a good idea, but it couldn't save the song from disappearing into oblivion. Nonetheless, his versions were pretty damn good, perhaps even very good! Have a listen to the club mix. Pretty catchy, and surprisingly fresh, considering that it's twenty years old. Insanity indeed...



As it's rare, I thought you might like to download a copy of the CD. I've left off the album and single versions and just left the Hurley remixes, all in 256kbps AAC (indistinguishable from CD quality). You can get them here (41MB).

The Pointer Sisters are still going by the way. They look mightily facelifted and/or photoshopped on their official site, which is fair enough: Bonnie Pointer is 60 now, Anita Pointer is 62 and Ruth Pointer is 64. Good for them.

mercredi 14 juillet 2010

Miami Sound Machine - Jambala (1994)


Sometimes, the links between music and films are completely mystifying. I've never seen The Specialist, but from what I've found on YouTube, I haven't missed anything. This poorly scripted/acted/filmed piece of nonsense seems to have been aimed at teenage boys who like explosions and the promise of seeing Sharon Stone in a nightie. The trailer is truly to be cringed at.



James Wood hamming it up even more than Sylvester Stallone? Incredible.

Strangely though, the film had a John Barry score that wasn't terrible (even if it sounded very much like James Bond) and someone had the odd but inspired idea to bring out, er, a CD of dance remixes linked to the film. Very odd indeed, but with surprising results: David Morales, E-Smoove, Ralphi Rosario... and Johnny Vicious. Not the most subtle of remixes, but a good line-up to be sure.

I was a big fan of Johnny Vicious' remixes of the time, but strangely his mix of Miami Sound Machine left me slightly cold, and I soon forgot it. Over the years however it's aged surprisingly well, with a certain blunt charm - congas and rave stabs - that I'm now quite pleased to listen to again. Funny how some tracks age well like that.

It was only when trawling through Discogs that I realised that the CD-single had a different mix of his from the album. Both are along the same lines, but with interesting differences, and the Original mix is not as easy to find as the Alternative mix that was on the CD album. So here it is! Press play to liste or click the download button to keep a copy.



Needless to say, neither is now available as a legal download (although you can still get the Barry score if you want).

Fancy seeing some more of the film? This scene brings cliché to a whole new level...